title: Recombinant interleukin 6 stimulates immature murine megakaryocytes.
abstract: Human recombinant interleukin 6 (IL-6) was found to stimulate the growth of immature mouse megakaryocytes maximally at 2 ng/ml, leading to significant increases in the number of large megakaryocytes readily detectable by light microscopy. IL-6 did not stimulate megakaryocyte progenitor cells to form colonies of megakaryocytes, but potentiated megakaryocyte colony formation when added in the presence of interleukin 3. The stimulation could be neutralized by an anti-IL-6 serum. The data indicate that IL-6 is a potent differentiation stimulus of megakaryocyte development in cell culture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: De Giorgio
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Banu
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Withy
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kishimoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006410:Hematopoiesis / Q000187:drug effects; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008533:Megakaryocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D011994:Recombinant Proteins